I don’t get “digg” – does that make me a dork?

December 6, 2006 by  

Maybe its me. I have trouble seeing the value of a user-generated news site (“Digg is all about user powered content”). What does that mean? Ok..you get the title and excerpt of the news (or the blog, or the blog of the news of the rumor….), but they don’t always accurately represent the content that the title/excerpt is linked to. Its like getting hooked and duped when you click through.

I don’t see much value browsing the comments – users calling each other wrong or insulting each other over their disagreements. Some do provide an analytical or thoughtful POV, but you have to wade through mostly one-line comments making me feel oddly voyeuristic.

The goal seems to be to get to the top of the list. Top story (by vote). Top digger(s) (by numbers of submissions and comments). Supposedly, quality of content is determined by the community voting process. I don’t really see how that can work. The fact that an article has been digged to the top means nothing to me. What am I missing?

Maybe its a generational, or cultural difference. I feel like I’m wired differently and that’s why I can’t see the value of digg in terms of shared knowledge. I admire the model, the technology, the potential. I instinctively understand that digg could signify a massive shift just by the sheer numbers of people wanting to belong.

Update: 12/7/06

So, I went to digg again and it was a different experience. There were a number of stories, and comments, that I found interesting. Since my news reader/blog tool is really slow these days, maybe I’ll try digg.

Also, I came across this from the smart co-authors of Citizen Marketers and the Church of the Customer Blog. It helped me understand the motivation which is largely about belonging.

Question: What inspires people to create digital content?

Answer: We think there are three reasons: The first is that the people who helped build sites like Wikipedia, TiVo Community, or Mini2 aren’t part of mainstream culture. They’re what we call the “1 Percenters,” the people who live at the edges and are different than from 99 percent of the world. Our research for the book led us to create the 1% Rule, which states that about 1 percent of a site’s total number of visitors will create content for it. The 1 Percenters flout cultural conventions. Americans love rebels, therefore the 1 Percenters often become the influencers of American culture.

The second reason: Their work is a hobby. Hobbies are fun, certainly, but hobbies can be viewed at a deeper level as an extension and reflection of one’s identity. Hobbyism grants one the permission to consider their work as recreation while subconsciously it works as ideological re-creation. It replicates the skills of the workplace and adds value that may often be lacking from it. Their content is their production.

The third reason is the sense of community. We’re not talking cities but more like extremely large families that scale. It’s easy for other hobbyists to find one another. The human need to bond with something is strong, even if it’s with a commercial entity.

So maybe digg’s long-term strategy is to provide a way to easily mine the digg content for knowledge and insight – a potential gold mine for advertisers wanting to reach the market(s) represented by the 1%. Funny..part of me wants to sign up and add digg to my blog..because its the thing to do.

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Filed under: career, Consciousness, going solo
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